Child support services have welcomed a commitment from the Government to move ahead with plans for a digital safety commissioner and steps to improve online protection.

A charity helping children who have been sexually abused has said that the delay victims face in accessing therapy is unacceptable.

Sexually abused children and their families are being subjected to “additional trauma” by having to wait an estimated five years before their court case is completed, according to a national therapy service, Cari.

Sexually abused children and their families are being subjected to “additional trauma” by having to wait an estimated five years before their court case is completed, according to a national therapy service, Cari.

The lack of dedicated sexual assault treatment units for children is adding “immensely” to the trauma of families trying to deal with child sex abuse.

Cormac O'Keefe examines the lack of sexual assault treatment units and the need for more sexual health and aftercare services nationwide.

The death toll from the avalanche which buried an Italian hotel has risen to nine after emergency crews pulled out three more bodies.

The Child and Family Agency has said it is open to redirecting funding into the areas of most need but could not confirm that an organisation helping sexually abused children will get the money it says it needs to clear a therapy backlog.

No State-run agency can provide figures for how many children are on waiting lists for counselling, or how long these children have to wait to be seen.

In January 2014, a man was arrested as part of a major investigation into online child sexual exploitation. The individual had more than 80 social networking profiles, email addresses, and video chat accounts to sexually abuse children via webcams on compute

Gardaí will be compelled in certain circumstances to disclose information on sex offenders to concerned members of the public under legislation being drafted in the coming weeks.

More than a third of children sexually assaulted or raped are attacked by another minor, it has emerged.

Early sexualisation of children and easy access to online pornography have been blamed by a leading children’s charity for a dramatic increase in rapes and sexual assaults against minors.

Growing numbers of teenagers are being sexually assaulted or gang raped by other teens, a children’s charity has warned.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has insisted a new database of DNA samples from convicted criminals and suspects in serious crimes will respect human rights.

More than 3,000 children who reported they were sexually abused last year cannot access therapy from the HSE — unless they live in Dublin or Limerick.

Posting an article about threesomes on a state-funded website was not an appropriate use of public money, Health Minister James Reilly said yesterday.

Health Minister James Reilly said today that he believes that discussions about “threesomes” on a State-funded website is not an appropriate use of that cash.

Abuse groups call for Bishop John Kirby to resign after he admitted that in the 1990s he thought paedophilia was “a friendship that crossed the boundary line”.

Children At Risk in Ireland (Cari), which treats victims of sexual abuse, has said it fears for the future of some services if it undergoes any further cuts to its funding.

The number of parents contacting a therapy and counselling service due to their young child’s sexualised behaviour has jumped by over 70% in the past year.

A passenger’s body has been found in the wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, raising to six the number of confirmed dead in the disaster, Italian rescue officials said.

An Italian prosecutor has confirmed allegations from passengers and others that the captain of the cruise ship abandoned the stricken liner before all the passengers had left.

THE HSE has ordered an investigation into how social services failed to intervene in what a judge described as the “torture” of eight children by their mother over seven years.

More than 50 celebrities have agreed to take to the stage this year in a special panto production for charity.

FIVE years after it was recommended by the Ferns Inquiry, the Office for the Minister of Children still hasn’t launched a publicity campaign informing children that they aren’t responsible for sexual abuse.

The Equality Tribunal has ordered the Department of Defence to pay €40,000 to one of its employees for victimisation.

HARD-UP Hugh Hefner will be touched.

THE country’s leading organisation for supporting sexually abused children has launched a scathing attack on what it said was the Government’s year of broken promises.

Up to one fifth of victims of child sex abuse may have suffered at the hands of a female, a leading support group revealed today.

WE have let the Playboy bunny image come off the top shelf and into our children’s wardrobes.

THE Government yesterday pledged to step up its efforts on child protection, but was warned not to forget recommendations drafted in the aftermath of last year’s constitutional crisis.

The highlighting of the sexual abuse of children in recent years has brought the topic more into the open.

VICTIMS of sexual abuse regularly face traumatic waits of up to five years for trials, a support group for families and children warned yesterday.

Two people were killed and about 60 others injured today when two underground trains collided during morning rush hour in a central Rome station.

JUST three out of every 100 people who go before the courts for sexual crimes against children are prosecuted.

The biggest organisation in the country providing therapy services for victims of child abuse says some are waiting more than a year for therapy services.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, indicated that a national investigation will take place into clerical abuse of children when he answered questions from the Fine Gael leader in the Dáil this morning.

A GROWING number of unaccompanied young immigrants, who have been sexually abused in their homelands, are seeking help on arrival here.

THE country’s only voluntary therapy service for sexually abused children has had to cut its services because of a funding crisis.

IT was wrong to limit the time a convicted paedophile’s details should remain on the sex offender’s register, a leading child protection group said yesterday.

ONLY 3% of sex abuse cases validated by health workers end up in court.

IRISH children have been used in the making of child pornography in Ireland, the country’s child sexual abuse watchdog said yesterday.